Page 1 - Newsbites March 2021

March 2021
John’s Overview

Welcome to the first 2021 edition of Newsbites!

When we first went into lockdown last March, I don’t
think many of us could ever have envisaged that we
would still be in it a year later, but here we are, albeit
Newsbites
now with lots of hope that the end is in sight. Clearly
it’s been a difficult time for many people and all of us
have faced moments and challenges that have
tested our resilience and patience, but I’m so proud of how every
single individual within our business and all those who support us across
the Group, has responded to a situation that none of us could have
prepared or trained for.

We didn’t just hunker down and wait for the storm to pass. We’ve
delivered a simply fantastic set of 2020 results, beating all of our
commercial targets, reducing the levels of working capital invested in
our business, providing great service to our customers and keeping our
brand owners happy. If that wasn’t enough, we’ve also implemented
Gazelle, on time and to plan, taken on a large scale new brand owner
and had to deal with the challenges thrown up by Brexit. On top of all of
that, and as I’ve said previously, we’ve done all of this in the right way,
staying true to our SPIRIT values, particularly in terms of Teamwork.
Reading the above, you will now start to understand why it was
appropriate that our Team of the Year for 2020 was the entire
business, so thank you to every one of you for your amazing efforts and
achievements and a special well done to our individual Award winners.

Now onto 2021, which provides us all with lots of exciting
opportunities to develop and grow both ourselves and our business.
As well as dealing with the inevitable challenges that will come along
in our day to day work, including a return to more normal consumer
demand patterns, we need to properly embed Gazelle to ensure that it
delivers the benefits originally envisaged, as well as on-board our new
brand owners. As you know already, we’ll also be launching our Vision
25 Strategy, which is aligned with the overall SHS Group strategy, setting
the course for our business and laying out how we intend to strengthen
and grow SHS GB over the coming few years, with everyone clear on their
individual role on this journey.

Another busy and exciting year ahead of us then, during which your
commitment, resilience and teamwork will be required once again; I
have no doubt every one of you will rise to the challenge.

I look forward to seeing most of you in the office soon. Until then, stay
safe.

John